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Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Today is National Animal Advocacy Day!! Children 4 Horses is teaming up with the ASPCA, and others to stop horse slaughter! Please take a minute today and join me in calling your legislators to let them know AMERICANS ARE AGAINST HORSE SLAUGHTER!! Let's work together and show Congress that people from all over the country care about protecting our horses and do not want our horses going to slaughter either here in our own country, or in Mexico and Canada. I will fight until we have won for the horses!! ~Declan

It's National Animal Advocacy Day: Please Make a Phone Call!

Got a sec? Today we’re joining forces to celebrate National Animal Advocacy Day—and we could really use your help! We need everyone to pick up the phone, call their legislators and urge them to ban horse slaughter once and for all.

Horse slaughter is barbaric and cruel. It’s not only bad for horses, but it also for people. Meat from American horses is unsafe for human consumption. Enacting a ban on horse slaughter has never been more urgent.

What Do You Say?
It’s simple. Ask your legislators to support the Safeguard American Food Exports (SAFE) Act. The SAFE Act will prohibit the slaughter of horses for human consumption in the U.S. and ban their export abroad for that purpose. This bill will protect our nation’s horses from the predatory horse slaughter industry and protect the public from toxic horse meat.

Animal advocates are a powerful force when we work together. That’s why we’re joining forces on April 30 to celebrate National Animal Advocacy Day—and you’re invited! We’re going to spend the day on the phone, calling members of Congress and urging them to ban horse slaughter once and for all.

Horse slaughter is barbaric and cruel. It’s not only bad for horses, but also for people. Meat from American horses is unsafe for human consumption. Enacting a ban on horse slaughter has never been more urgent.

The ASPCA is fighting this grisly industry, but we can't do it without your help. In conjunction with National Animal Advocacy Day, we are asking our members to call their legislators and urge them to support the Safeguard American Food Exports (SAFE) Act.

The SAFE Act will prohibit the slaughter of horses for human consumption in the U.S. and ban their export abroad for that purpose. This bill will protect our nation’s horses from the predatory horse slaughter industry and protect the public from toxic horse meat.

Let’s show Congress that people across the country, in every corner of every state, care about the protection of horses, and will not tolerate their senseless and cruel slaughter.

What You Can Do

Please call your legislators on April 30, National Animal Advocacy Day, and urge them to pass the SAFE Act. Visit the ASPCA Advocacy Center to look up your legislators' names and phone numbers.

Saturday, April 27, 2013

We CANNOT let "ag-gag" bills pass in our country - they will NOT help the animals. People like Dawn Roberts in this article would be arrested and that is so very very wrong! Please contact Governor Haslam and ask him to VETO the ag-gag bill in his state of Tennessee. Use the link below for Governor Halsam's contact information. ~DeclanCONTACT INFORMATION FOR GOVERNOR HASLAM

MORE

A popular country music artist is joining animal rights groups in calling on Gov. Bill Haslam to veto a controversial bill that would require anyone recording images of animal abuse to submit unedited footage or photos to law enforcement within 48 hours.

The Livestock Cruelty Prevention Act would require anyone recording images of animal abuse to submit unedited footage or photos to law enforcement within 48 hours.

The bill's House sponsor says animal safety is the top priority, but critics contend the bill's short reporting deadline would result in short, incomplete investigations and say the bill discourages would-be whistleblowers from coming forward out of fear of prosecution.

The ASPCA, the Humane Society of the United States and Mercy for Animals have all appealed to Haslam to veto the bill - as has country music artist Carrie Underwood, who tweeted to her fans on Twitter to contact the governor about what she called the "Ag Gag bill."

A spokesperson for the governor's office said they have received about 4,500 emails and nearly 1,800 phone calls about the issue so far, and almost all of them have been against the bill.

Dawn Roberts, of Springfield, delivered a petition to Haslam's office full of 6,000 signatures. She is not a lobbyist or a member of an animal rights group. She's just an animal lover who knows first hand what it takes to stop abuse.

"When you are driving by there everyday and you're seeing horses laying on the ground or see a horse and you picture it, and then a week later and it's thinner. And then a week later, it's thinner. And then you see a dead horse," Roberts said.

Roberts documented a tough case near her home. She said Robertson County sheriff's deputies would run out to Lee Krisle's farm, and Krisle would say, 'Oh, that horse - just bought home. He came that way.' So, it didn't go anywhere.

Roberts and her neighbors then started taking photographs - daily, for months - and all of a sudden it wasn't "he said, she said." It was "look at the proof."

"We showed that it was the same animal for a period of time and what he was telling the law enforcement or the agriculture extension officer was not correct," Roberts said.

A grand jury indicted Krisle this week on multiple counts of animal cruelty, and all horses have been taken off the farm belonging to Krisle - a convicted horse rustler and felon.

If the governor signs the legislation, the kind of investigation Roberts and her neighbors conducted would no longer be legal.

The governor has 10 days from the time a bill reaches his desk to either sign it into law, veto it or do nothing - in which case it becomes law anyway.

For now, the attorney general's office is reviewing the bill, and Haslam hasn't said which way he is leaning on the issue.

This is good news for these horses who now will no longer suffer the abuse of "soring". I can't believe the man, Larry Wheelon, who was hurting these horses is a high rated show judge and is on the ethics committee of the Tennessee Walking Horse Trainer's Association. My Wheelon isn't ethical at all!! ~Declan

Horses seized from Maryville barn over soring investigation

MARYVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) – Authorities seized 19 horses who may have been subjected to the cruel practice of “soring” from a Maryville, Tenn. barn and transported them to safety.

The Humane Society of the United States assisted the Blount County Sheriff’s Office, Blount County SPCA and Horse Haven of Tennessee with the seizure.

The barn was used by Larry Wheelon, charged with one count of felony animal cruelty on suspicions of soring, which is the application of caustic chemicals and painful devices to the hooves and legs of horses to produce the artificial high-stepping “Big-Lick” gait that gains unfair competitive advantage at horse shows.

Additional charges are possible pending the outcome of the investigation.

UPDATE: Horse Haven of Tennessee's equine manager seriously injured by colt. The organization is raising money to help her, noting she doesn't have insurance. Click here for full story

The sheriff’s office assisted in serving a search warrant last Thursday after receiving a tip about possible animal cruelty.

Authorities said they discovered horses visibly in pain and several barely able to stand.

Wheelon, who is an active director of the Tennessee Walking Horse Trainer’s Association and sits on its ethics committee, has been cited by inspectors at least 15 times for violations of the federal Horse Protection Act between 1993 and 2012. He is also a AAA-rated judge with Shelbyville, Tenn.-based S.H.O.W, which is the largest of the USDA-certified horse industry organizations that self-police competitions.

Leighann McCollum, Tennessee state director for The HSUS, said, “These horses are clearly in extreme pain – some of them from having chemicals applied to their skin and bolts driven into the soles of their hooves. We are grateful to be able to help rescue them so they will no longer have to suffer like this, simply for the sake of a blue ribbon. We commend the Blount County SPCA and Blount County Sheriff’s Office for their hard work and dedication on this case.”

Gino Bachman, president of Blount County SPCA, said, “Seeing these horses suffering so badly that they can hardly stand is heartbreaking, but being able to assist in this investigation and today’s rescue gives us some solace.”

The horses will be thoroughly examined and receive any necessary immediate medical treatment and will be cared for at an undisclosed location pending the final disposition of this case.

This is the second time in two years that a Tennessee walking horse trainer has faced animal cruelty charges in Tennessee. Last month, a Fayette County Grand Jury indicted former Tennessee Walking Horse Hall of Fame trainer Jackie McConnell and two co-defendants on 38 counts of animal cruelty for illegally soring and torturing horses as documented in a Humane Society of the United States undercover investigation conducted in 2011.

McConnell already has a federal felony conviction stemming from the same investigation and was sentenced to three years of probation and a $75,000 fine.

The HSUS encourages Congress to pass the Prevent All Soring Tactics (PAST) Act of 2013, H.R. 1518, which strengthens the Horse Protection Act by ending industry self-policing, banning the use of certain devices associated with soring and strengthening penalties.

The HSUS is also urging Gov. Bill Haslam to veto Tennessee’s controversial anti-whistleblower, or “ag-gag,” bill, S.B. 1248, which would make it a crime for whistleblowers and journalists to document and expose chronic animal abuse at industrial agriculture facilities and horse stables.

'Ag gag' bill stopped

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - State lawmakers will work into the evening as they wrap up the 2013 General Assembly. They still must pass a new 2-year state budget and the tax cut it contains.

In the meantime, a controversial bill was withdrawn without a vote. The bill that opponents call the "ag gag" was the source of a spirited debate in the Indiana House when House Speaker Brian Bosma stepped in and took the bill off the table.

It's procedural move that could mean the bill is dead. The so-called "ag gag" would make it a crime to photograph agricultural operations without permission but opponents see it as an attempt to thwart the first amendment.

"To gag whistle blowers. Why do we always want to do something that is outrageous?" asked Rep. Pat Bauer (D-South Bend.) "This is something that is outrageous for this time."

"This bill's got the same problem as my golf game," said Rep. Ed DeLaney (D-Indianapolis.) "It's not capable of being made good. The core idea is bad."

A milder version of the "ag gag" bill could still pass if Senate author Travis Holdman agrees to it.

Hooray for Maine! I am glad to see people in the state of Maine stand up for horses and speak out against horse slaughter. People in Maine, please contact your legislators and let them know that you support this bill (L.D. 1286) and a ban on horse slaughter! Use the link below to find your Representative in Maine. ~DeclanMAINE STATE LEGISLATORS CONTACT INFORMATION

The plan also would prevent transport of horses through Maine to plants in Canada that would turn them into food.

A legislative committee will hear public testimony Tuesday on a bill to prohibit the slaughter of horses for human consumption.

click image to enlarge

L.D. 1286 was drafted with help from Maine Friends of Animals, which estimates that 1,500 horses are shipped through Maine each year to slaughterhouses in Quebec.

2011 Associated Press file

L.D. 1286 would ban slaughterhouses for horses in Maine and any transportation of horses through Maine for slaughter in Canada.

It also would repeal current state law that allows horse meat to be sold in Maine as long as it is conspicuously labeled.

Supporters say the bill could prove controversial but Maine should take steps to outlaw horse slaughter.

Horse slaughterhouses were outlawed in the United States in 2007, after the Department of Agriculture said it did not have enough money or resources to inspect them. But last year, the government resumed inspections, allowing slaughterhouses to reopen.

The chief sponsors of Maine's bill, Rep. Gary Knight, R-Livermore Falls, and Rep. Elizabeth Dickerson, D-Rockland, said they are concerned that someone might try to open a horse slaughterhouse in Maine.

"Our bill is a proactive measure," said Dickerson, who owns a horse rescue farm. "It's an inhumane process being used in the slaughterhouses. At least a cow will stand still, but a horse will not."

Knight said he has heard that slaughterhouses shackle horses' legs before slitting their throats.

The Legislature's Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry Committee will hold a public hearing on L.D. 1286 at 1 p.m. Tuesday in Room 214 of the Cross State Office Building in Augusta. At a later date, the committee will hold a work session on the bill to decide on its recommendation to the Legislature.

A similar bill, introduced three years ago, never gained support and was withdrawn from consideration.

Knight said the new bill has support from both parties.

He said he decided to push the bill after hearing reports from Maine Friends of Animals that a farm in Vassalboro was sending horses to slaughterhouses in Canada. Knight said it is his understanding that the farm is no longer in business, but the legislation is still needed.

"Maine has become the focal point for horse (slaughter) trafficking," he said. "I've talked to a lot of people and there is no one in my district who thinks this bill doesn't make sense."

Violators would be prohibited from owning animals and could be required to take humane-education courses.

Wendy Ireland, executive director of the Maine Harness Horsemen's Association, said she is aware of the bill but is reserving judgment.

Ireland, whose organization promotes harness racing in Maine and represents more than 3,000 horse owners, trainers, breeders and drivers, said a big issue for all competitive horse owners is what to do when a horse nears the end of its racing life.

"Most owners try to find good homes for their horses, and most do," she said.

L.D. 1286 was drafted with help from Falmouth-based Maine Friends of Animals, which estimates that 1,500 horses are shipped through Maine each year to slaughterhouses in Quebec, based on inspections done during border crossings.

Robert Fisk Jr., the organization's president and director, said, "Our state serves as a funnel for horse slaughter."

He said the market for horse meat is being driven by consumers in Europe -- France and Belgium in particular -- and Asia.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie signed a law in September that prohibits the slaughter of horses, transportation of horses to slaughter, and sales of horse meat for human consumption in his state.

At the time New Jersey adopted its law, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said a national poll showed that 80 percent of Americans opposed horse slaughter for human consumption.

The Maine bill targets only horses, but the bill's supporters say opponents fear that cows, chickens and pigs will be their next target to protect.

"It is a diversionary and false argument to classify this legislation as a conspiracy against all farm animals," Fisk said in an opinion piece he submitted to the Portland Press Herald. "This is about one issue and one issue only: the slaughter of horses for human consumption, which 80 percent of the American public opposes."

Thursday, April 25, 2013

I wish America would stop doping their race horses, and look at Europe and say, "Hey, Europe has horse racing without all the drugs, maybe we don't need to dope up our horses!" IT WOULD BE AWESOME IF THAT HAPPENED!!!!! ~Declan

Routine On U.S. Racetracks, Horse Doping Is Banned In Europe

French jockey Olivier Peslier celebrates a win at Longchamps racecourse near Paris in 2012. While many drugs can legally be used on horses in U.S. racing, they are barred in Europe.

Fred Dufour /AFP/Getty Images
At the famous Hippodrome de Longchamp just outside of Paris this month, crowds came to cheer and bet on the sleek thoroughbreds that opened horse racing season by galloping down the verdant turf course.

Horse racing in Europe is different from the sport in the U.S., from the shape and surface of the track to race distances and the season itself. Another big difference is doping.

Drugs are not allowed in European horse races. But in America, they aren't just legal, they're widely used — particularly furosemide, better known as Lasix. The drug helps prevent horses' lungs from bleeding during races.

Gina Rarick, an American horse trainer who works in France, says U.S. horse racing is out of step with the rest of the world. Eleanor Beardsley /NPR

Gina Rarick, an American horse trainer in France, is grooming a horse at her stables in Maison Lafitte, lush horse country west of Paris. Rarick feels the practice of administering Lasix is ruining the sport in America.

"Every horse in America starts his day with a shot or two in the neck. I'm sorry, but it's wrong. It's just wrong." she says. "The Americans ... have these horror stories about, 'Oh, if we don't use Lasix they're gonna bleed to death and drop in front of people.' ... It's ridiculous. We don't use Lasix in the rest of the world."

Last month, the American horse Animal Kingdom, winner of the 2011 Kentucky Derby, had a two-length win at the Dubai World Cup. That victory, Rarick says, shows that a horse can run without Lasix.

It also comes at a time when drugging is a top issue in the U.S. racing industry. The Breeders' Cup has banned race-day drugging of 2-year-olds and was going to extend that ban to all of its races this year. But last month, the Breeders' Cup board rolled back on those plans, in part due to lack of support by many in the racing industry.

A Powerful Drug

Rarick says Lasix is a powerful diuretic.

"If you give a horse a shot of Lasix and then watch what happens, he'll start to pee, and pee, and pee. ... [It] gives the [phrase] 'piss like a racehorse' a whole new meaning," she says. "He will lose ... 30 pounds of body weight in fluids. ... It's a tremendously powerful drug.

Rarick rides on practice tracks at Maison Lafitte, the lush horse country west of Paris where she trains.

Eleanor Beardsley/NPR

Horses are then so dehydrated after the race, she says, that other drugs are needed to help them recover. She describes it as a vicious circle.

While Animal Kingdom won the Dubai Classic clean, he raced on Lasix when he won the 2011 Kentucky Derby. In fact, there are 14 medications allowed in America's top horse race, Rarick says. Critics argue that those legal drugs help mask a raft of illegal substances.

Barry Irwin, Animal Kingdom's owner, wants the use of drugs in American racing stopped. He says 95 percent of American racehorses are being medicated for a problem that affects only about 5 percent.

"I'm more interested in not having any drugs in racing at all, so that everybody can play on a level field and we can be more in line with international sport," Irwin says. "All other sports are getting rid of medication, and we're stubbornly hanging on to one drug."

Different Approaches

Veteran thoroughbred trainer Dale Romans disagrees. He believes using Lasix is the right thing to do and says horse racing in the rest of the world should catch up with the U.S. — and modern science.

"A lot of people don't realize we have this problem," Romans says, "because they don't see it. They don't come back to the barn with the horse. They don't see blood running out of their nose. They don't see ... that they're bled inside and it causes lung infections. So we have an inexpensive medication to prevent it from happening and I think we should use it. I think the horse should be put first."

Tom Ludt, outgoing chairman of the board of directors of the Breeders' Cup, says the issue of medication in the U.S. horse racing culture is extremely complicated.

"It's very hard for us to compare racing here and in Europe because they run a different style, they run mainly on turf and they take many more seasonal breaks," Ludt says. "We're much more commercialized here. If you look at what the horses run for in purse money in Europe versus here, it's crazy. They run for nothing, except in a very few races."

The use of Lasix and other race-day drugs has created two worlds of horse racing: the U.S. and everywhere else. Rarick says she wishes that weren't so.

"It would be nice to have an ambition of one day getting a horse good enough to run the Breeders' Cup or win the Kentucky Derby," Rarick says. "But that's not my ambition at all because I could never run under those conditions. If they make it drug-free, yes, that would be a dream to go back and one day compete in one of the races I used to watch as a kid growing up."

But for now, Rarick says, she's more than happy to stay in the European racing world

The walk-through is NOT a final determination and is only a step in the process for Valley Meat to be approved for horse slaughter. We cannot give up the fight and need to keep educating people on horse slaughter, it's cruelties and how it is a predatory business built on lies and deciet. ~Declan

ROSWELL, N.M. - Agents of the U.S. Department of Agriculture conducted a walk-through of Valley Meat Co. on Tuesday, days after the Humane Society of the United States and Front Range Equine Rescue submitted a notice of intent to sue if the agency agrees to provide inspections required for the facility to slaughter horses.

The walkthrough does not constitute a final determination for Valley Meat, according to attorney Bruce Wagman, a partner at the Schiff Hardin law firm who represents both potential plaintiffs.

"It means they did an inspection of the facility for certain criteria," Wagman said. "It doesn't at all mean that there's an approval of horse slaughter. The walkthrough is part of a chain of events, sort of like saying once you get the nomination that you're actually the president. You may get nominated, but that doesn't mean you're going to win."

In their submission, Larkspur, Colo.-based Front Range Equine Rescue and the national Humane Society note that horse slaughter is a threat to the environment and to wildlife in the vicinity.

USDA activity related to Valley Meat is not necessarily affected by the notice of intent to sue, Wagman said. However, he emphasized that opening a horse slaughterhouse would require a final grant of inspection by the USDA, not just a walkthrough.

In threatening to sue, the organizations say wastewater and other slaughterhouse byproducts produced at Valley Meat could damage the habitats of several threatened or endangered species. That means more obstacles to approval for the plant, Wagman said.

"In order to approve the site as a slaughterhouse," he said, "USDA is required to consult with the Fish and Wildlife Service over the potential damage to those endangered species and their critical habitats."

Valley Meat is located near the South Spring and Pecos rivers, Bitter Lake National Wildlife Refuge and Bottomless Lakes State Park. Among species mentioned in the notice are the Pecos bluntnose shiner, three snail species and a freshwater shrimp.

Should the USDA give Valley Meat final approval, owner Ricardo De Los Santos still faces other obstacles. Wagman said plans to export the meat to eastern Europe and Asia would not comply with the New Mexico Food Act.

"Under New Mexico food law, horse meat is adulterated and cannot be sold," he said. "You can't sell it to somebody else, either. Doesn't mean, 'Oh, you can sell it to Europeans.' It means it can't be sold - period."

Horse slaughter remains a hot topic in New Mexico. Renee Blake has some of the latest developments.

In the New Mexico Food Act, revised in 1993, Chapter 25, Article 2 refers to adulterated or misbranded food. The text is online at nmenv.state.nm.us.

Having roamed Flathead Lake’s largest island for more than three decades, at one point upholding its name as the lone equine resident, the oldest gelding on Wild Horse Island has departed for greener pastures.

“It’s too bad, but he had a pretty good run,” says Jerry Sawyer, who manages the seven state parks located on Flathead Lake for Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks. “It’s pretty rare that they get that old. And he just kept hanging in there.”

Every winter, the old man’s ribs became a little more pronounced, his winter coat a few degrees more tattered, and wildlife managers grew increasingly certain that it would be his last.

And then, with spring’s arrival, he would emerge to prove his tenacity again.

“He was there a long time,” Sawyer said. “He had been shedding his winter coat and his metabolism was slowing down. He came across as really wild and wooly, and that was certainly a sign that he wasn’t going to keep going. He did have pretty good habitat, though, with plenty of forage, and the predators are pretty slim out there. There are coyotes and a few mountain lions. He did well.”

Longtime Wild Horse Island resident Barry Gordon last saw the old horse around the first of December, and said he was looking weaker than he had at the beginning of previous winters.

“He really hung in there,” Gordon said. “He was always the wildest of all the horses that we have out here. You never could get up next to him, but he was always the one that watched over the rest of them. He just finally gave her up.”

The old horse’s death leaves five mares and one gelding, a population that still outweighs what is technically allowed by Wild Horse Island State Park’s management plan – a maximum of five wild horses to run free on the island’s 2,164 acres. The island also supports significantly higher numbers of bighorn sheep and mule deer.

FWP, which has to transplant bighorn sheep off the island to keep their population in check, has one major rule for the wild horses, which are present solely to honor the island’s name. They can’t reproduce.

That’s meant the males on the island, like the oldest horse, must be geldings.

In 2009, the herd of wild horses dwindled to only the old man, and FWP began restocking, first adding a mustang because they didn’t think the old horse could make it through another winter. When he did, they added four wild black mares – the first females FWP had ever transplanted to the island.

Unbeknownst to anyone, one of the mares was pregnant, and one day a seventh horse appeared on the island. According to Gordon, the old horse was protective of the young filly.

“He was the one that kind of ran the show,” Gordon said. “He was quite protective of that little filly. When visitors would get near her he would start snorting. He was quite protective of that little girl.”

The herd tends to forage on Wild Horse Island’s east side in the morning and migrate to the western edge to follow the sun. Sawyer said the rest of the herd is faring well, and estimates that the old horse died at least a month ago.

“You can’t live forever, but he did pretty good,” Sawyer said. “You’ve got to give him credit.”

Lawyer: Inspectors clear NM horse slaughterhouse

By JERI CLAUSING, Associated Press

Updated 12:11 pm, Tuesday, April 23, 2013 Updated 5:00pm

Valley Meat Co. owner Rick De Los Santos stands in a corral area outside the former cattle slaughterhouse he has converted to a horse slaughter facility in Roswell, N.M., Monday, April 15, 2013. The plant --- which has been waiting more than a year for federal approval of its operations -- has become ground zero for an emotional, national debate over a return to domestic horse slaughter. Photo: Jeri Clausing

ROSWELL, N.M. (AP) — About 5 miles from this southeastern New Mexico town's famed UFO museum, tucked between dairy farms, is a nondescript metal building that could be home to any number of small agricultural businesses.

But Valley Meat Co. is no longer just another agricultural business. It's a former cattle slaughterhouse whose kill floor has been redesigned for horses to be led in one at a time, secured in a huge metal chute, shot in the head, then processed into meat for shipment overseas.

It's also ground zero for an emotional, national debate over a return to domestic horse slaughter that has divided horse rescue and animal humane groups, ranchers, politicians and Indian tribes.

And Tuesday, it moved one step closer to becoming the first plant in the country in more than six years to slaughter horses, with a successful inspection by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

At issue is whether the majestic symbols of Western culture are livestock or pets, and whether it is more humane to slaughter them domestically than to ship tens of thousands of neglected, unwanted and wild horses thousands of miles to be slaughtered in Mexico or Canada.

Front and center in the debate is Rick De Los Santos, who along with his wife, Sarah, has for more than two decades worked this small slaughterhouse, taking in mostly cows that were too old or sick to travel with larger herds to the bigger slaughterhouses for production.

Now, with cattle herds shrinking amid an ongoing drought, De Los Santos says he and his wife are just trying to transform their business and make enough money to retire. They're seeking to slaughter domestically some of the thousands of horses that De Los Santos says travel through the state every month on their way to what are oftentimes less humane and less regulated plants south of the border.

"They are being slaughtered anyway. We thought, well, we will slaughter them here and provide jobs for the economy," De Los Santos said.

Instead, Valley Meat has been ensnarled in a yearlong political drama that has left the plant idle and its owners the target of vandalism and death threats — warnings that increased after humane groups found a video a former plant worker posted of himself cursing at animal activists, then shooting one of his own horses to eat.

"People are saying, 'We will slit your throat in your sleep. We hope you die. We hope your kids die,'" De Los Santos said. "Sometimes it's scary. ... And it's all for a horse."

Indeed, voicemails left on the company's answering machine spew hate and wishes for violence upon the family.

"I hope you burn in hell," said one irate woman who called repeatedly, saying, "You better pack your (expletive) bags (expletive) and get out of there because that place is finished."

The couple have hired security and turned over phone records to federal authorities. They are, nevertheless, surprisingly candid about their plans, offering media access to the 7,200-square-foot slaughterhouse with one kill floor and two processing rooms that De Los Santos says can process 50 to 100 horses a day.

"It's complicated, this industry of feeding the world," Sarah De Los Santos says matter-of-factly. The meat would be processed for human consumption and exported to countries in eastern Europe and Asia.

Attorney Blair Dunn says agriculture officials found no issues at Valley Meat Co. during Tuesday's inspection and told the owners they are recommending a grant of inspection be issued immediately.

The plant passed a similar inspection last year but then was told it couldn't begin operations until the USDA developed an acceptable test to measure the horse meat for drug residue.

It wasn't until the plant sued the USDA for blocking its application that the agency earlier this year agreed to move forward with the inspections necessary to allow Valley Meat Co. and about a half-dozen other plants around the country to slaughter horses.

But the Obama administration wants to prohibit such slaughters. The administration's 2014 budget request excludes money for inspectors for horse slaughter plants, which would effectively keep them from operating.

The USDA did not respond to an email from The Associated Press asking about the inspection process and whether a drug test has been developed.

But Dunn said Department of Justice lawyers repeatedly have assured him that there are no impediments to the plant opening. Dunn says he expects final approval for the plant to come in a matter of days.

"Everyone is talking about this as a humane issue," De Los Santos said. "This is not a humane issue. It's politics."

Humane groups and politicians including Gov. Susana Martinez and New Mexico Attorney General Gary King strongly oppose the plant. They argue that horses are iconic animals in the West, and that other solutions and more funding for horse rescue and birth control programs should be explored over slaughter.

Fueling opposition is a recent uproar in Europe over horse meat being found in products labeled as beef.

Still others are pushing for a return to domestic slaughter. Proponents include several Native American tribes, the American Quarter Horse Association, some livestock associations and even a few horse rescue groups that believe domestic slaughter would be more humane than shipping the animals elsewhere.

They point to a 2011 report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office that found horse abuse and abandonment increasing since Congress effectively banned horse slaughter by cutting funding for federal inspection programs in 2006. Because rescue groups can't take care of all of the horses in need, tens of thousands have been shipped to slaughterhouses in Mexico.

In this mostly agricultural town, touted on its welcome sign as the Dairy Capital of the Southwest, there is surprisingly little uproar over the plant.

"I was against it," said Larry Connolly, a retiree having coffee at Starbucks last week. "Then I started talking to some ranchers. They said they were for it. So I'm neutral."

Local horse trader and former rancher Dave McIntosh said opening the plant would be the "best thing for the welfare of horses."

But Sheriff Rob Coon said he believes most people in town oppose the plant. His office was inundated with calls and emails from irate people after the horse-killing video was discovered online last month. The former Valley Meat worker posted the video more than a year ago in response to animal activists opposed to horse slaughter.

"A lot of the ranchers are for it, simply because they want a place to take a horse rather than starve it out," he said. "But it's not our society. We don't eat horses."

Coon said his department has met with other local agencies in preparation for protests and potential trouble should the plant get the green light to open. But he clearly longs for the day when Roswell — whose main street is populated with statues of green extraterrestrials — was known for a rumored 1947 UFO landing, and little else.

SAFE Act

The Safeguard American Food Exports "SAFE" H.R.1942 is the current bill proposed in the House and Senate to protect American horses from slaughter. PLEASE contact your legisltors and ask the to cosponsor and support SAFE.

Children 4 Horses is on Facebook

Declan Bio

Declan is honored to be the 2012 ASPCA's Humane Kid of the Year and the first ever recipient of the ASPCA Junior Equine Angel Award. Declan is also an ASPCA Junior Equine Welfare Ambassador.

After hearing about the inhumane and cruel practice of horse slaughter, now ten-year-old Declan, decided he needed to raise his voice. He created Children 4 Horses, to spread the word about horse advocacy issues and worked diligently with the Million Horse March campaign to collect letters from children to inspire lawmakers to end the slaughter of American horses.

Declan’s dedication to horse advocacy brought him to the nation’s capital twice, where he represented over 1,000 children from the United States by presenting the letters to legislators in Congress. While in Washington DC, Declan met with Congressman Frank Guinta of New Hampshire, where he shared his opposition to the inhumane treatment of horses and subsequently garnered the Congressman’s co-sponsorship of the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act (S.1176/H.R.2966).

Declan also joined forces with the “Horses on the Hill” campaign, speaking before celebrities, Congressmen and Senators to lobby against horse slaughter and advocate for the protection of horses under S.1176/H.R.2966. In addition to his three Washington DC visits, Declan testified at a hearing for a bill opposing horse slaughter at the New Hampshire State House in January, 2012.